Sony made some tweaks to its design aesthetic this year to accommodate the inclusion of a fingerprint sensor in the power button of the Z5. It's not as accurate as I'd like, but it's still nice to have. However, a number of reports claim that Sony will not include this feature in the newly announced US variants of the phone. We reached out to Sony and got confirmation: no fingerprint reader for the US.

A fingerprint reader is still listed on the Z5 Compact spec sheet (not Z5, though), so perhaps this was a recent decision. In the photos of the US variant, the power button does look the same as the international version, which definitely has a fingerprint sensor. When we asked about the lack of a fingerprint reader, Sony told us, "This was simply a business decision."

Sony is launching the Z5 and Z5 Compact in the US next month for $499-599, but they've been available internationally for months. In fact, the international SKUs are available on sites like Expansys and Amazon for less than Sony's retail price, and they have fingerprint sensors. I'm just not sure why you'd buy the US version now when it's a little more expensive and it lacks a fingerprint sensor.

Comments

It's not outdated, its one of the best phones money can buy. Don't be a braindead fool that believes internet viral campaigns where blogs like this are paid to push certain brands.

Android police have no visible policy that outlines gifting policies and review ethics. That means they would rather you didn't know who paid for their CES trips and such.

F4uzan

Still unacceptable if they call the phone 'flagship' (which should be a high-end, feature filled phone), heck, OnePlus even included fingerprint scanner at the cost of removing NFC.

Sir_Brizz

They are releasing a phone in 2016 _without a fingerprint sensor_. Every other manufacturer is releasing or has released devices with fingerprint sensors. Unless Sony is aiming at the bottom end market (which they are missing on pricing by a mile if so), this is a huge mistake.

I'm not saying the hardware itself is outdated, I'm saying their device is not competitive with currently available devices.

To be honest I had no idea that the Z5 wasn't available in the US until now.

James

It wasn't (officially).

pol

Well, that's because it just became available today.

moew

It did not become available today. Next month. Either way, nobody cares.

Daniyyel Django Touboul

Yep, Lol companies are so stupid sometimes,
But I guess its their way to say that their fingerprint reader is not good enough, so they are rolling it back.

Badouken

So the same business model as Konami?

tehboogieman

Yes, except instead of casinos insurance is their cash cow

Gandalf_Teh_Gray

No kidding. I'd have strongly considered a z5 compact at launch, but now nope.

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My1

I would just say that their business is discrimination.

Dragos Lucian

Yup. There has to be someone in the US crazy enough to sue them for discrimination. Who knows , he might win. lol

My1

and then we continue this with the makers of blurays, DVDs, Netflix etc.

lol

Right, because the most major form of discrimination people face in the US concerns their phones.

Matthew Fry

Sony: "Our business model is to take the great things our engineers make and systematically ruin and undermine them."

Truth

They don't want to sell to the messed up US market tgatvis in a race to the bottom. Walmart America.

Me

I also heard that the fingerprint sensor was removed from it, becuase of trailerpark America, so much inbreeding everyone has the same fingerprints

TheOtherJames

Why would I buy a US version? The same reason I didn't buy an international version before: a warranty.

21187

and full support of US GSM bands

Barnassey

The european version supports US LTE bands as well.

21187

An Italian Z5C I used did not have full support of US T-Mobile LTE bands

Wolf0491

just that special T Mobile band right? its like 17? I didn't think any international phone had that no matter what brand phone lol

Audio

According to the whitepaper, the 2 variants of the Z5C have support for all T-Mobile LTE bands (2, 4, and 12). Do you have an Italian carrier variant?

Barnassey

He probably does.

saf1927

And they still wonder why they make a loss every year? Stupid decisions and no effort at all in actually marketing their device.

TechGuy22

now it's even more outdated

Phazonclash

The Z5? Outdated? lol

m477

They'll release the Z6 in Europe in a few months.

Jan Ibrahim

whilst it's disappointing for people in the us who want a Sony, the logic "the z6 will be out in a few months" is silly - as EVERY new phone is out in a few months...

Not a genius in marketing, speaking of the mobile division. Still the fact that the compact have the sensor and the regular Z5 didn't seems really absurd. Wonder what will be of the Premium one..

Adil Tajgeer

i mean, at this rate, they'll release the premium version in Q2 2017.

BoFiS

Wait, that makes NO SENSE, the fingerprint scanner is one of the main reasons to get this over my Z3 Compact...that and 32GB internal so Play Store stops acting like I'm running out of space. Guess I'll pay less money from a reseller and get the unlocked European model with fingerprint sensor because if I'm unlocking the bootloader anyway, a warranty is worthless.

Between price and feature dropping, Sony seems determined to be a non-player in the US market. "This was simply a(NOTHER BAD) business decision."

Ghost

DOA

drzfr3shboialex

Only way Sony will make a killer phone is if Google lets them make the next high end Nexus.

billy

Wow, that's absurd. Is the band support better for US carriers on this version? Otherwise, why wouldn't I just purchase an international version for less money? How much would a third party warranty cost?

21187

Yes it will have full support for US (-- GSM) bands

Adil Tajgeer

Maybe US GSM bands, but i really doubt they'll have any cdma support

21187

correct. no cdma

Audio

If they are anything like the Z3 compact, they should have band support for Verizon LTE; I haven't been able to get VOLTE working on Verizon for my Z3 compact, however, so no native voice service.

Adil Tajgeer

That's kind of a crappy solution though. Verizons lte network isn't has widespread as their evdo one. Might as well use T-Mobile at that point

Audio

I haven't used it extensively; just as a proof of concept to get it working. I actually do use it on Tmobile! LOL

Adil Tajgeer

hahaha, it's good to know there is at least some band support. it would be similar to using the A9 on verizon. you would get LTE support but not the ev-do support, which is still the backbone of the verizon network.

billy

How does it differ from the international variant? Does it add any new bands? People are already using the international variant on T-Mo and AT&T without too much trouble, right?

21187

I used an international version on T-Mobile that worked great but it did not fully support all the LTE bands

TypoCorrecto

R.I.P. Sony mobile in the US.

Izzy

how about the supported frequency bands? is there a difference?

Paul_Werner

Came to ask the same thing

hnl

How nice. Hoping that the Z6 in Europe will also be without a fingerprint scanner.

HFoletto

It makes no sense. Sony released the Z5 in Brazil november 4th. Why would they launch it so later in the US? It's also strange that here it does has the fingerprint sensor, although it's currently a really expensive smartphone, costing exact the same as the iPhone 6S Plus and more than the Galaxy S6 Edge +.

Marcelove

For the price Sony is asking at Brazil (to whom doesn't know, the price here is about 1100$ dollars for the "normal" version, not the premium version),it shouldn't have released the phone here at all...

PS: here it is around 4500 reais, that convertes equals 1100 dollars.

netanil

I'm pretty sure there is an esoteric technical term of art for that, oh yeah, now I remember it, "f**king fail."

netanil

A long time ago, Sony used to be incredible with the small hand-held gadgets. Really terrific products. Must own products, if you will.
With this Z5 announcement, those days are now officially over.

derk p

guess they dont want me to even be slightly interested in their products

JeanClaude

Could it be patent related?

Abdulrhman

Why they're digging their grave?

Emma

Now you know how we feel about US things when they come to Europe... enjoy :)

MangoFace

This x everything ever of all time ever

Abhi

If trure its new heights of stupidity, at a time when subsidies have pretty much disappeared here. First the device is late to the US by a few months and probably only 2-3 months from a new iteration and now they slightly neuter the US version. Whats next, a 2000 mAh Battery and and one speaker for now price reduction? If they also cut the screen they can call it Xperia Audio. International versions show as no warranty on Amazon.

someone755

So the only feature on the Z5 that the Z3 or Z3+ don't have is gone...?
Sony is shooting itself in the other foot too now. Only this time it's using a shotgun.

Eumelanin Knight

Can't stay I really care for a fingerprint sensor, but if I'm going to get a phone, I'd like it to be somewhat "future-proof". Not just tech-wise, but to mind-change as well. May actually want to use a FpS for something, someday.

Bad move. Then again.. Sony LOVE removing features. It's their thing.

xanok

Honestly, I have a Nexus 5X and a fingerprint sensor is a must now. Instant unlock for your phone and makes Android Pay way easier to use.

Eumelanin Knight

Something like Android pay is why I may actually use it one day. No interest using it to lock my phone, though.

aaaaaaand this is the official announcement of the death of Sony in the US.

king of the thing

Wouldn't be surprised if it was carrier related. The carriers probly delayed the US variant to begin with and now I'm thinking one or more carriers didn't like the way the Z5's fingerprint reader interacted with other things or its security. Just a thought...

Ghost

Z5s are going to be sold directly from Sony. No carrier involvement whatsoever.

Sony's removing fingerprint readers as a cost-cutting measure. Hence, "This was simply a business decision."

king of the thing

Yeah I thought of that as soon as I posted that. Silly me. Droid-Life's take on it is that the FP reader just under performs. I personally doubt it was done for cost cutting (opinion), I'm more thinking they took it out afraid they would get blasted about how bad it preforms. Can anyone confirm that it was actually removed or included but completely shut off with no way of turning on other than a sony update?

Roh_Mish

It's a bit slow but accurate and you won't notice much. It's still very fast. Unless you play with multiple devices (high end) like reporters do, you won't ever notice

Adam Jones

I disagree. I think it's fast but inaccurate.

Stuart Anderson

Why not just launch the Z6 here when it gets announced? Stupid Sony being Sony.

Audio

It's so frustrating! I love Sony's hardware; I have the Tablet Z, the Z3 Compact and the T-Mobile Z3 variant. They are the best Android hardware, IMHO. But Sony seems to be hoping that their reputation will sell handsets.

gubagub

You buy Sony because it's Sony not because it's good. Duh.

Jasdeep Singh

Sony and HTC are really competing with each other now!!!

xanok

A fingerprint reader makes Android Pay a hundred times easier to use. I would never get a phone without one now. Terrible move by Sony.

surethom

Sony is so out of touch with the consumer.

Quint’s Sharking & Seashells

Does anyone want to supply the 'but why' gif?

AsterMK

"Hey, let's remove the best way to pay with your phone in the only country where such payment services are available!"

- Sony logic

MadJoe

Deal broken

antonio cesar

on the bright side, this was the best decision they made after they choosed to go to the us this late, the fingerprint on the z5 simply dosent work, its bad

The Saiyan Prince

Are they trying to get people to choose the competition?

Sanket Srimany

Why is it that Sony want to dig their own grave as always??

Dragos Lucian

What the hell are they selling them for then ?! At that price you can choose from a variety of other premium phones that actually include a fast fingerprint sensor, or for probably cheaper than that. I swear to god, these "businessmen" have gone full retard lately. A lot of companies need to just get rid of the old very "experienced" personnel in the favor of new younger and talented employees.

ARahman Rashed

I have a z5 phone with the fingerprint sensor, no wonder why they decided to take it away from the US market.
Simply it is extremely bad and annoying, it fails to recognize your fingerprint to unlock the phone no matter how many times you set it up, it fails like 85% of the time.
It's really annoying.

Adam Jones

Agreed. Only my right thumb works. Anything else fails 90% of the time because it's on even the slightest bit of a different angle to when I registered it.

It's like they're deliberately trying to make sure nobody buys this phone. What could go on inside a company to make that happen?

Ryan

I started using th Xperia line because i was tired of going through 3 or 4 $1,000 Samsung Galaxy lemons before i got one that worked properly out of the box. I was able to pick up a Z5 premium while i was overseas about a month ago. Although, i paid pretty penny for it, approximately $871 USD for an unlocked phone. The one i got does have the fingprint sensor within the power button and it rocks! It just makes so much sense to have it where sony put and it feels so natural. The only thing i can suggest is not play sony's game and just get the international version online and boycott the non-fingerprint version of the phone. Sony has a bad habit of screwing its loyal customers with pay to play stuff that other companies offer as standard features - here's looking at you, mr charging me to play ps3 games i already own. Thanks for nothing.

Oh, Americans are learning how it feels like to get less for more. Feels bad, right?

sa

Why would a phone released in Third World country need a fingerprint reader?

Vjekoslav Andric

Able to sell without issues in Canada, not in USA.
Tells more about USA laws, than about Sony buissness decisions...
Either way, Sony mobile never did or will depend on USA sales...
So all your frustration should be pointed at USA trade policies,.. not Sony

P.S. Motorola for ex was and is also in same way mostly nonexistent in Europe, same as Sony is in USA...

ramuk

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Vjekoslav Andric

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Shoot.